Protection
by Gryphon31
Summary: How does Fred respond when Bree does not meet him as he expected? Fred/Bree


_Fred's POV after Bree Tanner_

_Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight or characters connected to it._

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I stared at the entrance, praying to see the blur that would have to be Bree to come streaking toward the park.

Diego was dead; I had passed the smoking remains of his destroyed body, but it was too late to turn back. Hopeful Bree would realize that and get back here soon.

My fingers tapped nervously on my leg, not habitually, like they had when I was human, but with a purpose; an attempt to distract me from loss.

But what was I losing? Not Diego, he meant nothing to me. My humanity? No. I wasn't eating anyone right now, was I? My coven? Ha. That idea was laughable. That group meant little. They had all been pawns in Riley and her game. Yet, there was one in the group I actually cared about. Bree. She always left me her books, and even though she hung around me mostly for protection, I did like her. We communicated so fluidly, it was like it was meant to be; like we were meant to be.

I looked back up at the sky. It was time. I had told her I would wait a day. That day was done. Now I should move on. I turned to leave, but try as I would, I found myself drawn back toward my path. What if she was still coming? What if I just missed her? It only took a microsecond to stop my internal questions with a compromise. I would run back down my path and meet her. She wouldn't let Riley kill her without a fight, so she was probably still coming.

I sprinted back down the path toward Seattle.

It was hard to stop my abilities from making everyone around me nauseous. I laughed as I saw a restaurant I had passed twenty-four hours, three minutes and twenty-nine seconds ago with a closed sign and a notice issued by the FDA. I had lost control for about a second, and all the people in the restaurant had all lost whatever it was they were eating, and their appetite.

I was strong, and growing stronger all the time. I would protect us, Bree and me. We would find a way to gain back some humanity. I hated drinking the blood of live humans. It seems so brutal and pitiful. We, the strongest creatures on the earth, killed the helpless humans. Sure, they were intelligent, but that couldn't save them from us. I pitied them, and at the same time, I wished I was one of them. They had everything. They had the blood, the lives, and their community. The only thing they didn't have was time. We had the time, but that was the only thing we had for us. We could destroy them easily, but by doing so, we would destroy ourselves. They thought they could save themselves, but like Dracula, we just kept coming back.

Dracula. This sent my mind down another path. How much of Dracula was false? We didn't sleep, we could move through sunlight, I had swam through moving water more times than I could count, I still enjoyed the smell of garlic toast, even though the taste was repulsive, and I didn't think a stake would hurt that much.

I was distracted from this track by the mental note that I was almost done following my path back. Where was Bree? The end of my track came and went. I sprinted back toward where I had left her. What if she was alive, but injured? What if her legs had been burnt, but she was still alive? I had bound myself to her through my protection of her. The fact that I had left her shamed me. What if she had needed my protection, but I wasn't there to give it? What if she was permanently dead? I dismissed that last thought. It wasn't possible. Bree was tough. She was fine. Injured, maybe, but dead? No. that wasn't possible.

I did my best to turn off my brain and focus on finding her. The questions were distracting, and I thought I could run faster. I stopped the second I ran into the place I had left them. Who knew if the golden-eyed coven was looking for strays? I moved quickly, but more silently. I breathed slowly, keeping an eye out for any strange movements.

I picked up Bree's specific scent quickly. I knew I would. It smelled like toffee. Sweet, but also sticky and tough to chew. Toffee always had been one of my favorite desserts. I found the easiest way to eat it was to let it melt in your mouth. It was ironic that that was also the way Bree got used to me; slowly and in controlled increments.

Focus.

Right, Bree.

I followed her path. They had run through here. They had split, but it didn't smell organized. All the wrong people went the wrong directions. I figured Bree would follow Kristie, so I followed her scent too. I jumped slightly at the sight of a hand lying on the ground; the hand of a girl named Sara, I think. I followed the trail into the clearing, no longer looking for specifically Bree's scent. The scene around me filled me with horror. Piles of ashes surrounded the big pile in the center. Each pile had its own scent. Raoul, Kevin, Kristie, Sara, Jen, all of them. They had been led right into a massacre. Every scent of burned ashes there I recognized as ours. The golden eyes had decimated us. With a jolt, I realized I'd gone back to speaking in plurals. Them, they had been decimated, not us. Not Bree and me. Bree.

I sniffed around more, but her scent wasn't in the big pile. I moved toward the other end of the clearing, the side where the unfamiliar scents lay heavy and more recent. The carnage didn't stop. More vampire ashes were spread to this end. I smelt the scent of the pet human, but I smelled something more important; toffee. Burnt toffee. Bree.

I knew when I found her ashes. They were grouped together, away from the others. They were more recently burnt.

"Bree, what did they do to you? How did they capture you? Honey, I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry." I would've cried, but the tears didn't come. Could I cry?

"Bree, I'm so sorry." I ripped a piece of cloth of my shirt and bundled some of the ashes in it so I could take her with me. It was no longer gravity holding me to the earth; to my humanity. It was her, and she was gone. I embraced my vampiric nature, and inhaled the scent of the ashes deeply. This scent would stay with me forever, always reminding me of what had been done to the one I cared for. As I tied the bundle shut, I added my humanity to it. What she gave me would not help me with my plans.

"I love you. I wanted to protect you. I'm sorry I wasn't here when you needed me." I whispered.

"Bree, I swear on your death that the vampires who did this to you will suffer. The golden-eyes will pay for this." I would make sure of this.

I knelt there for a long time, I don't really know how long. When I moved up to a crouch, I was more the hunter that I was made to be then the pathetic human I had once been. I would bide my time. I would gather an army. I would move carefully, slowly, so they wouldn't know what hit them until they were all dead. Yes, I would destroy them, for Bree.

I stood up slowly, smiling to myself. The hunt begins.

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_A/N: Poor Fred... going after the wrong vampires. Reveiws are lovely._


End file.
